How to keep bees for profit/Chapter 3

THERE are many races of bees, as many,
-- in fact, as there are different races
of the human family, and each race has its
distinctive racial characteristics. Among them
are the Common Blacks, the Italians, the
Carniolans, the Caucasians, the Cyprians, the
Banats, the Holy Lands, as well as many
others which it would be useless to describe,
as the majority of beekeepers keep either
the Italians or the Blacks.

The Blacks are widely distributed throughout
the United States, having been brought
over by the early settlers, while the Italians
are of quite recent importation. The Blacks,
while fairly good honey gatherers, and builders
of the whitest combs, a thing much desired
by the producer of comb honey, are seldom
if ever kept by the progressive beekeeper,
owing to certain undesirable traits of character.
They are of a very nervous temperament,
and are apt to rush all over their combs when
being manipulated, which renders the finding
of the queen a hard task ; they will also gather
in great clusters on the ends of their frames
and fall to the ground, to the annoyance and
discomfort of the person handling them.
They are very irritable, and will often fly from
their hives and attack the passerby with no
provocation whatever. Whether they are naturally
lazy or quickly disheartened, the fact
remains that they do not seem able to resist
disease and enemies as vigorously as the Italians.
Again and again have I seen a strong
colony of Blacks completely destroyed through
the ravages of the bee moth or from disease,
which a weak colony of Italians seem able
to resist.

One thing is certain, the Blacks become
discouraged and quit working upon the first
indication of a cessation of the honey flow,
and thus leave a lot of unfinished sections in
their supers, while other races will continue
working right up to the close of the flow.
These undesirable traits have induced the
majority of beekeepers to discard them,
though some beekeepers prefer a hybrid race
of Italians and Blacks, as they claim they
get in such a mixture of blood the gentleness
and hustling qualities of the Italians and the
superior comb-building qualities of the Blacks.
However, any one who has kept Hybrids can
vouch for the fact that what is gained is more
than offset by the viciousness of the Hybrid,
as they seem possessed of an incurable propensity
to sting.

The Cyprians have been extensively kept;
they are natives of the Island of Cyprus, and
as honey-gatherers are without an equal.
They are good defenders of their hives,
and will repel the attacks of diseases and
robber bees better than any other known
race, and are most excellent winterers. As
workers they are indefatigable, gathering
honey from every available quarter even after
other races have quit, but they have the habit
of filling their cells completely full, so that
the combs have a watery appearance, which
renders its sale difficult, hence the few beekeepers
who stick to them run them mostly
for extracted honey. While this race has all
of the desirable qualities attributed to them,
their dispositions are so vicious, that there is
hardly a beekeeper in the land who keeps
an absolutely pure strain of Cyprians. By
no means should the novice ever think of
keeping Cyprians, as they are extremely sensitive,
and resent the slightest jarring of their
hives, and when once aroused no amount of
smoke will subdue them, in fact, it seems to
infuriate them the more.

The Carniolans are large gray bees from
the Alpine regions of Carniola in Austria, and
with the exception of the Caucasians are the
gentlest race known. Coming originally from
a cold country, the Carniolans are the hardiest
race we know, and not being so sensitive to
cold as other races, will begin to go afield
earlier in the morning, and work later in the
day than others, and for this reason, they
winter unusually well. Their comb honey is
the best produced, as they do not, like the
Cyprians, fill their cells completely full, and
thus they produce comb honey of snowy whiteness.
To handle them is a delight, as they seldom
sting, and I have worked with them day in
and day out without any protection for the
face or hands, and for weeks at a time have
gone without being stung.

But the great objection to the Carniolans,
and one that has led most beekeepers to discard
them, is their proneness to frequent
and excessive swarming, which means a loss
of bees and a loss of honey. The Caucasians
are in appearance not unlike the Carniolans,
and certain strains of them are hardly
distinguishable from the Blacks, but in disposition
they are in a class by themselves,
as their gentleness is simply marvellous.
Again and again I have tried to anger them
without success; in fact, I have kicked their
hives, shaken their frames, blown my breath
on them, and, whereas other races would have
attacked me at once, the Caucasians would
offer no retaliation. It might be inferred
from this that they are not good defenders of
their hives; but such is not the case, for there
have been times when I have been abusing
them, when they would sally forth and fight
to the death robber bees that tried to take
advantage of their hives being opened out of
season, to rob them of their stores.
They are good winterers, and builders of
choice white combs, and not given to excessive
swarming, but they have an unpleasant
habit of plastering balls of propolis, or beeglue,
all over their frames and at the entrances
of their hives.

The main objection to this otherwise most
excellent race is the fact that they so closely
resemble the Blacks that only an expert can
distinguish the difference, and if one is not
careful, before long the entire apiary will be
made up of Blacks.
The Banats are a race of bees from Hungary,
in appearance similar to the Caucasians,
remarkably gentle, and, best of all, are great
breeders in the early spring, so when the
honey flow comes on they have a great force to
gather it. They build beautiful white combs
and gather little propolis, and are so little
given to swarming that some beekeepers
have claimed that they are a non-swarming
race. However, their introduction is so recent
that the beginner will do well to pass them by
until a thorough test shall have firmly established
their good qualities.

On the whole it may be said that fully 75
per cent of the professional beekeepers prefer
the Italians, as this race seems to have more
desirable traits and fewer disagreeable ones
than any other. These bees came originally
from Italy, the first successful importation of
queens being about 1861, and at once leaped
into favor, maintaining their precedence to the
present time. In appearance they are very
handsome, varying in color from a leatherbrown
to the most lustrous gold, and, as compared
with the Blacks, are remarkable for
their gentleness. They rarely get nervous
when they are handled, and it is very easy to
find their queens. I have frequently opened
their hives after nine o'clock in the evening,
and have often brought a comb of bees into
the house and passed it around for visitors
to examine, and I have yet to know of an occasion
where those so examining them have been
stung, though they will sting if sufficiently
provoked.

They are energetic workers, not easily discouraged,
and, having originally come from
a warm climate, they are alert for enemies
and seem to have no trouble in repelling the
bee moth.

It has been said that the Italian bees are
more prone to rob than other races, but this
is an evidence of their honey-gathering qualities.
It may be likewise said that when precautionary
methods are taken they soon cease
to rob, a thing that cannot be said of some of
the other races when the habit has once been
formed. After many years of experience
with almost every known race of bees, I have
been compelled to come back to the Italians
as the best general-purpose bee in existence.
Of late years there has been a tendency
toward golden-all-over Italians on the part of
some beekeepers, and this demand has led
some breeders in their anxiety to quickly
produce them to use a Cyprian cross because
of their bright golden color, with the result
that some strains of Italians are as vicious
as the pure Cyprians. For this reason the
beginner will do well to select Italians of a
leather color, as they are more certain to be
of a pure strain, and experience has proved
that they winter much better than the golden
ones.

In selecting Italian bees it would be a wise
thing to secure from some reputable breeder
queens of the red clover strain, as these bees
will visit and secure a rich harvest from red
clover, whereas ordinary Italian bees will
seldom visit it, as their tongues are not sufficiently
long to reach down into the deep corolla
of the blossom.